Chapter 7 - THE NAME ROSA REMEMBERED
Rocco stared at Rosa.
Then laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
“Come on.”
Adrian’s weapon remained lowered.
But only barely.
Rosa shook her head.
“Not you.”
Everyone froze.
Rocco’s face hardened.
“You might want to say that faster.”
“Your father.”
Rocco stopped breathing.
Dominic DeSantis had been Anthony Falcone’s closest friend.
He had also been Rocco’s hero.
Dead eleven years.
Rosa continued.
“Dominic rebuilt Blue Crescent after Anthony died.”
Rocco looked at Adrian.
“That’s impossible.”
Carlo wiped blood from his lip.
“No.”
Rocco turned on him.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“You let me spend twelve years working beside Adrian while you suspected my father?”
“I didn’t know whether you were involved.”
Rocco raised his gun.
Adrian stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Gunfire struck the wall.
Concrete dust filled the air.
Whatever grief Rocco felt had to wait.
They moved.
Carlo’s men joined Adrian’s, pushing the attackers back toward the dock.
Elena helped her mother through the maintenance corridor.
Rosa was weaker than she had appeared on camera.
“Your surgery.”
“Was real.”
“You walked through a tunnel after abdominal surgery?”
“It was stupid.”
“Yes.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You keep saying that like it makes stupid things intelligent.”
Rosa almost laughed.
“Definitely Gabriel’s daughter.”
They reached Luna Blue’s basement.
Victor locked the tunnel gate behind them.
For the moment, they were safe.
Rocco stood apart from everyone.
Adrian approached him.
“Talk to me.”
“My father hated Carlo.”
“So did half of Boston.”
“He told me Carlo destroyed your family.”
“Maybe he needed you to believe that.”
Rocco’s face twisted.
“He raised me.”
Adrian’s voice softened.
“I know.”
Elena watched the two men.
Their friendship suddenly carried a weight she hadn’t understood.
Rocco hadn’t merely worked for Adrian.
They had grown up together.
Two sons inheriting stories from fathers who had kept too many secrets.
Rosa sat at a basement table.
“I met Dominic in 1999.”
Rocco slowly turned.
“He came to Anthony pretending he had evidence against Carlo. Some of it was real. That’s how he earned trust.”
“Why didn’t you tell Anthony?”
“I did.”
Rocco frowned.
“Then why keep him around?”
“To watch him.”
Adrian understood.
“My father used him.”
“Yes.”
“And Dominic realized?”
“Eventually.”
Rosa looked at Elena.
“That’s why Gabriel died.”
The words hit Elena physically.
Rosa reached for her hand.
“Your father went to Pier 14 because Dominic had taken me. Gabriel came back for me.”
“You told me that part.”
“No. Teresa guessed that part.”
Rosa’s eyes filled.
“Gabriel got me out. Dominic shot him.”
Elena’s fingers went numb.
“He died there?”
Rosa nodded.
“He died holding my hand.”
For years Elena had imagined her father alone on a highway.
Instead, he had died saving her mother.
“Did he say anything?”
Rosa’s tears spilled.
“He said, ‘Tell Elena I’m sorry I’ll miss her first real stage.’”
Elena bowed her head.
Her father had died when she was nineteen, weeks before the audition that might have started her professional career.
She had quit dancing afterward.
Not because anyone made her.
Because every studio reminded her of the empty chair where he should have been.
Adrian quietly moved closer.
He didn’t touch her.
He simply stood there.
And somehow that was exactly right.
Rocco sat across from Rosa.
“If my father killed Gabriel, why was he never exposed?”
“Beatrice stopped us.”
Rocco looked furious.
“Why?”
“Because Dominic had something she didn’t.”
“What?”
“Evidence tying Anthony to crimes Anthony never committed.”
Carlo answered.
“Insurance.”
Rosa nodded.
“If Dominic went down publicly, Falcone Maritime went with him. Hundreds of innocent employees lost jobs. Adrian could have gone to prison.”
Adrian’s expression turned cold.
“So my mother protected me by protecting a murderer.”
“Yes.”
No one tried to soften it.
Some truths were ugly even when motivated by love.
Rocco stood.
“My father died eleven years ago.”
Rosa nodded.
“But before he died, he trained someone.”
Victor swore.
“Who?”
Rosa looked at him.
“Someone who had access to Luna Blue.”
Victor’s face emptied.
“No.”
Elena understood before he said the name.
“Teresa.”
Victor shook his head violently.
“My aunt built that restaurant.”
“Using Beatrice’s money,” Adrian said.
Victor backed away.
“No.”
Rosa spoke gently.
“Teresa wasn’t Blue Crescent when Beatrice helped her.”
Victor looked at her.
“Then when?”
“After Michael died.”
Victor’s father.
Rosa continued.
“Michael Salerno helped Beatrice collect evidence. Dominic discovered it. He ruined Michael’s career and threatened Teresa’s children. After Michael died, Teresa decided she would never be powerless again.”
Victor sat heavily.
“My aunt?”
“She began by feeding Dominic harmless information. Then profitable information. Eventually she inherited his contacts.”
Elena thought of Teresa’s warm hugs.
Christmas bonuses.
Homemade cannoli.
A woman could love her family and still become something dangerous.
Villains did not always begin as villains.
Sometimes fear hardened into greed.
Sometimes survival became control.
Rocco suddenly looked toward the restaurant ceiling.
“If Teresa controls the current network, she knows we’re here.”
Victor’s eyes widened.
“She owns the security system.”
The basement lights switched off.
A red emergency light came on.
Then the old service elevator started descending.
Everyone stared at it.
Victor whispered, “She’s upstairs.”
The elevator reached the basement.
Doors opened.
Nobody stood inside.
Only one object rested on the floor.
Elena’s serving tray.
On it sat the missing jewelry box from Rosa’s apartment.
And beside it was a handwritten note.
Victor picked it up.
His hands began shaking.
“What does it say?” Elena asked.
He looked at her.
“Teresa wants to trade.”
“For what?”
May you like
Victor swallowed.
“You.”
